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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Derro" data-source="post: 4512226" data-attributes="member: 51010">You make a good point. Particularly with 1).While there is no question that players and GMs can flavor things to their own tastes I think that the presentation in 4e is a bit backward. Players are given a bit of text for every power they have describing the narrative effect. GMs are provided with neither cultural/ecological or power flavor for monstrous antagonists.It's sort of like the play group shows up to paint a mural and all of the PC's work is done except for cleaning up the working material. Meanwhile the GM has a much larger amount of space to cover and his area hasn't even been primed.That's a rough analogy so remember what we're talking about here if you respond. I understand the design principle here but I don't necessarily like the implementation. The PHB, as the primary interface of 4e, gets the most attention of almost any 4e player. It needs to be colorful and rich to be engaging. On the same note GMs, as the primary writers of the story and framers of the narrative, need room to work.However the way things are set up now the players, who have more time to develop personal narrative, have all their work done for them. On the other hand the GM, with less time and energy for individual narratives of antagonists and other NPCs, has had considerably less work done for him by the game. So in the hands of the PCs the narrative tool becomes a crutch while to the GM the narrative space is a bit more wide open than is helpful.My concern about the flavor of 4e is not for me or anybody else that has done any significant amount of role-playing. I'm done with my investment in this game past the money I put down to buy the three core books. I think of the person, generally the young person, that has not played games like this in the past that starts with this game. What kind of picture does it paint to them? How will this stuff, irrelevant as it is to an experienced player, color a new player's experience? Will they find it as easy to disregard in light of it being the written rules of this game?</blockquote>

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